I was watching Gladiator and the opening scene shows a battle between the roman army and a germanic tribe, and i was wondering how soldiers back then, especially foot soldiers and cavalry, handle such gruesome, violent, man to man warfare ? Today warfare has evolved to the point where soldiers rarely face or even see each other, and yet the negative effects of war on psychology are notorious. How did men back then handle having to go through regular bloodbaths and keep going at it ? Surely a large portion of them must have lost their mind after one or two battles ?
While you wait for an answer this discussion on PTSD in the ancient world might be of some interest (stolen wholesale from a post from u/Welfontheshelf)
u/hillsonghoods wrote a long post on why 'Did Ancient Warriors Get PTSD?' isn't such a simple question.
u/Iphikrates answered Did ancient civilians get PTSD? What do we know of the psychological effects of war on noncombatants, and how they dealt with them?
And for some other previous answers there is this section in the FAQ.
Edit: one thing I'd add is that the beginning of Gladiator isn't a good source for much of anything, historically. At that point in history (the Marcomannic wars) the "barbarian hordes" encountered by the romans would have organized and equipped their military, as much as was practical, like the Romans themselves. The disorganized mass of irregular infantry you see in the movie would have only been good for fleeing. And neither side would have wanted to break ranks and have it devolve into a free for all melee (especially if, if you take the movie at face value, you ARE fighting a disorganized group).
Edit2: I bring up the above because while I'm no psychologist I imagine being part of a large and cohesive group is probably better for your mental health rather than the individualistic combat you see in movies.
It’s an old book but you might be interested in ‘the Face of Battle’ by John Keegan, which examines the soldier’s experience from Agincourt to WW1.
Agincourt and ancient world warfare were not so very different, the ‘kill zone’ was pretty similar for ranged or blades weapons.
General conclusion re PTSD I took from the book was that for most of the ancient soldier’s time, they knew they were not in mortal danger. The period of violence was tightly constrained and experienced surrounded by people who might be neighbors or relatives, and there was a lot of social identity wrapped into the experience
By contrast the WW1 experience included battles that lasted months, ranges over many miles, and were essentially inescapable, with constant mortal danger. This is much harder to bear psychologically than a few hours of terror and then a return to camp or even regular farming life in the case of seasonal campaigning.